(06/18/2012) - Samuel Contesti, the five-time Italian champion and 2009 European silver medalist who began his career skating for France, announced his retirement from competitive skating, the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported Friday.

"There were no reasons to continue," Contesti told the paper.

Contesti, 29, competed for France from 2001-07, winning two national bronze medals (2005, '07) and a silver ('06).

He moved to Italy after marrying Geraldine Zulini in February 2007 and gained Italian citizenship. He began competing for Italy in 2008, employing Zulini as his primary coach.

In 2009, he became the first Italian man to medal at the European Championships in 55 years, when he took the silver in Helsinki. (Carlo Fassi won gold in 1954.)

"It is just fantastic [to medal]," Contesti said at the time. "This is a beautiful victory for all people that believed in me."